MEDIA RELEASE

An unidentified male died Wednesday (June 30, 2004) of injuries he received in a single-car accident on Saddle Road in South Hilo.

Responding to an 11:46 a.m. call, Hilo patrol officers determined that the driver and lone occupant of the car was traveling west on Saddle Road when he lost control of the a Subaru station wagon, which ran off the road and overturned in the underbrush about seven-tenths of a mile west of the 10-mile marker.

The driver was taken to the Hilo Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 1:47 p.m.

Traffic Enforcement Unit officers have ordered an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death. Speed was believed to have been a factor in the crash.

Wednesday’s death was the 23rd traffic fatality on the Big Island so far this year, compared to 15 at the same time last year.